Imagine this: it’s nine in the morning on a Saturday and you’re hankering for a morning pick-me-up. You head to your usual coffee shop; there’s a queue. Now, you know the coffee here is amazing, but a line on Saturday seems a little out of the ordinary. Once you step inside, instead of the usual coffee shop music (soft, dulcet tunes from a piano or an acoustic guitar), there is the raw, pulsing beat of club music. Instead of the dark, musty energy of a club on Saturday night, spilled drinks on sticky club floors, the sunlight streams into the coffee shop, and a throng of people bounce excitedly to their favourite songs, talk into one another’s ear, all while holding cups of coffee, iced or otherwise.
No, it isn’t a fever dream induced by heat stroke. It is a new trend known as a coffee rave (or coffee party). So, what is a coffee rave anyway? Well, it is defined quite similarly to how it sounds. It is a place for people to come together and listen to house music during the daytime. Instead of tequila shots, vodka martinis, and rum and cokes, patrons can lose themselves in the bitter and aromatic flavours of a caramel macchiato, a cappuccino, or even a well-made cup of Americano.
Who knew that the resurgence of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s hit “Murder on the Dancefloor” would be an eerie premonition of the state of nightlife on a global scale? With inflation looming like a spectre and rising costs of education, housing, etc, people are quick to cut back on non-essential costs. Unfortunately, for many, clubbing can fall into this category. With a rise in wellness influencer culture, the grungy ambience of a club no longer appeals to a large sector of young adults. To be fair, you may want to go out for a night on the town with your friends, but the price of a drink, long wait times, and (occasionally) unsavoury crowds may throw you off.
Enter: coffee raves. Coffee raves take the fun ambience of a big night out, full of good music and good people, and put it in the cosy and familiar setting of a coffee shop. Coffee raves hit the scene earlier this year, cropping up in several cities such as London, Amsterdam, and New York. The success of these events caused replicas to spread throughout the world. They have become popular in places like Russia, the UAE, and India! There is no specific place that can be pinpointed as the birthplace of this trend but rather, it supports a general movement of younger Millennials and Gen Z populations moving away from alcohol culture.
Bangkok and Bangkokians are known for tapping into trends and adapting them much faster than other places, and what could be trendier than a coffee shop rave? So, it is no surprise that there have been a few coffee parties in our very own city. The beauty of such a novel idea is how fresh each iteration of it seems. No two coffee parties will be alike.
RISE COFFEE x TICTACTOE
Rise Coffee, a progressive coffee shop that wishes to make the world of coffee consumption in Thailand more inclusive and dynamic, has collaborated with TICTACTOE, a hot dating bar nestled on the fifth floor of Empshere, for one of Bangkok’s coffee raves. Their first event was on the 25th of March and was so successful that they held another on the 27th of April. The collaboration is titled “Morning Affair,” and details of their upcoming events can be found on their Instagram pages. The next “Morning Affair” will be held on 25th May.
Instagram: @risecoffee.th, @tictactoebangkok
APT 101 x BARTELS
Popular Bangkok club, APT 101, also threw their hat into the ring and collaborated with Bartels to throw their own coffee rave. Held on 29th March and titled “Breakfast Club.” APT 101’s coffee rave felt a little different because they served bites as well. This makes sense because Bartels, their collaborator, is known for their sourdough bites throughout Bangkok. With tunes from 8 am to 2 pm, coffee, good company and food, we cannot help but wonder if APT 101 will throw another coffee rave in the near future.
Instagram: @apt101club, @bartels.thailand
SAWASDEE CUP
The honour of Bangkok’s first coffee rave, however, goes to the organisers Sawasdee Cup. With an adorable coffee cup adorned in sunglasses for their logo, Sawasdee Cup held their coffee rave on the 22nd of March in collaboration with the coffee shop, Rolling Roasters. Their core principles of music, community, and coffee align wit the fundamentals of why coffee raves gained momentum in the first place. What’ cool about Sawasdee Cup is their plan to collaborate with different coffee shops taking their concept across Bangkok.
Instagram: @sawasdeecup.coffeepart, @rollingrosters.bkk
So, there you have it. Coffee raves have all the bells and whistles of the underground party scene without the dank, dark, and damp nightclubs or the throngs of sweaty, drunk people stampeding toward the dance floor. For those who enjoy the music in clubs but not the association of losing control, or the presence of alcohol, coffee raves are a great alternative!